Customer Data Privacy Policy

Your privacy is important to us

United Airlines is committed to protecting the privacy and personal data it receives from customers. We want you to know that when you use one of the United family Internet websites, and when you provide us with information offline, the privacy of your personally identifiable information will be respected and protected. While United strives to take reasonable measures to protect the privacy of our customers, this Privacy Policy is not a contract and does not create any legal rights or obligations. Rather, the following are guidelines for protecting the information you provide to us.

With respect to online transactions, this Privacy Policy applies to transactions conducted within the United States on united.com and any other website within the United ("United") family. However, this policy does not apply to United Cargo transactions, including, but not limited to, those conducted on unitedcargo.com. For the privacy policies of websites outside of the United family, like United Vacations, Orbitz, Travelocity, or Expedia, please see their websites for the policies that apply.

What information do we collect?

United collects and maintains personally identifiable information about customers through our websites and through offline transactions such as over the telephone, through a United Customer Contact Center agent or other travel agent, and in person at United counters or at United Club locations. Personally identifiable information includes, but is not limited to, your name, address, passport number, credit card numbers, phone numbers, and email addresses. In addition, when you use our websites, certain user information and site activity data is collected. Further details on the information we collect is described below. We also may collect information, including personally identifiable information and demographic information, about you from other third parties, such as advertising agents and marketing partners. We may combine this information with other information that we maintain about you.

MileagePlus® information

When you enroll in MileagePlus, or if you are already a MileagePlus member, we collect specific information such as your name, address, phone numbers, email addresses, MileagePlus number, password and a password reminder.

Traveler profile information

When you enroll in MileagePlus or activate your MileagePlus account, an optional traveler profile can be created for your convenience. You are not required to complete a profile to use our websites for your reservations. In order to complete your traveler profile, the following information may be requested: credit card type, number, expiration date and billing address, telephone numbers, email addresses, general requests or special needs, travel preferences and loyalty program information.

Online purchases

It is not required that you be a MileagePlus member, activate your MileagePlus account on one of our websites, or complete a traveler profile in order to make reservations on one of our websites. However, MileagePlus membership and a traveler profile will allow you to complete a reservation more quickly and give you online access to your MileagePlus account information, past transactions and special services. If you purchase as a guest, information such as billing, contact and preferences will be collected in order to execute the transaction.

Promotions

We occasionally sponsor promotions to give members the opportunity to win various prizes. Information collected for promotions can include contact information, such as email address, and survey questions.

Cookies and other tracking technologies

By using one of our websites, some information may automatically be collected by our Web servers as you browse our site. United and our third-party service providers also collect information by using technologies and methodologies that enable tracking, such as "cookies", Web beacons and ad tags.

Cookies are small bits of information that are stored on your computer by your Web browser. Web beacons (also called "pixel tags") are small strings of code placed on a Web page or in an email message for the purpose of transferring information. Cookies help establish a user session and allow our server to correctly provide site users with the appropriate information, advertisements and services. Additional information about the use of these technologies is described below./p>

Domain names

In general, you can visit most parts of our websites without telling us who you are or revealing any information about yourself. Our Web servers identify the domain names and IP addresses of visitors, where applicable. An "Internet Protocol Address" or "IP Address" is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer when you use the Internet.

In order to book your reservation with a United Customer Contact Center agent, a travel agent (including online travel agents outside of the United family), or a customer service representative (collectively, "Reservations Agents"), Reservations Agents collect data such as credit card numbers, passport numbers, birth date, name, addresses, email addresses and telephone numbers. Telephone calls to Reservations Agents may be monitored and/or recorded and by continuing with the call, you are deemed to consent to such monitoring and/or recording.

United Club℠

United may collect personally identifiable information such as name, addresses, email addresses, telephone numbers and credit card numbers, in order to provide service to its United Club members.

In flight

If a medical or other emergency occurs while on board, boarding, or disembarking a United aircraft, United may share customer information with third-party medical or other safety personnel as necessary. Additionally, United may collect credit card and MileagePlus information in flight to enable present and/or future purchases.

Children

Due to the nature of our services, travel purchase information–including personal information–may be collected by United from children under the age of 13 when necessary to comply with federal aviation or security regulations or for safety or security reasons, or as otherwise necessary for United to provide services. We may retain personal information when necessary to provide transportation to a child under 13. United does not knowingly collect personally identifiable information online from children under the age of 13 other than when necessary to comply with federal aviation or security regulations or for safety and security reasons. In addition, if you learn that your child has provided us with personal information online without your knowledge, you may contact us by sending an email to web-mpi@united.com, or by calling 1-800-421-4655 and ask us to delete this information from our records. This will unsubscribe the child from any marketing or promotional opportunities.

United's personal device entertainment service

If you use this service, we may collect information about you, which includes, but is not limited to, name, credit card, etc.

We will also collect the "Media Access Control Address" or "MAC Address" of the personal electronic device that you are using to access United's personal device entertainment service. The MAC Address is an identifier attached to a network adapter, such as your Wi-Fi card, device or component. We assign your computer or device a dynamic IP Address that varies from session to session when you use United's personal device entertainment service. We may associate your MAC Address and IP Address with your personally identifiable information or other information such as entertainment choices.

You will have the option to provide feedback on your experience with the service's feedback feature. Your participation is completely voluntary and any information you provide may be used by United for troubleshooting or improving our services. Information you provide when using this service is subject to the provisions of this Policy.

How do we use and share your information?

United uses personal information collected in conjunction with registration or purchases on our websites and offline purchases and transactions to complete transactions and fulfill requests for services. We also use your personal information to provide you with a more effective customer experience as well as for marketing and advertising purposes, including, sending you special offers via email or postal mail (or both). In order to do this, United may process your information or combine it with other information that we have about you or that is publicly available.

In addition, United may share your personal information with third parties, including, but not limited to, service providers, advertising agents, and marketing partners: to provide our services to you; for customer services purposes; for marketing and advertising purposes, such as to provide you promotional opportunities that may be of interest to you (including offers from United and third parties) and for advertising products and services on this website, third-party websites, and through other communications channels; for research and analytics purposes; to protect our rights and interests, and the interests of our users; and as required by law. We and our third party service providers may combine information about you with other information that they collect, including demographic information, information that they collect automatically, and other information that they may have about you.

We also may share your personal information, including, but not limited to, customer mailing list and email addresses with marketing partners and other third parties whose products and services may be of interest to you. These entities may market their products and services directly to you.

Aggregate information such as demographic information, domain names, other site traffic information, etc., may at times be shared with United partners or other third parties for analytics, marketing, and other purposes. Examples of aggregate information are X% of eligible tickets purchased are eTickets; X% of subscribers use a mobile application, etc. Aggregate information does not include personally identifiable information.

Information collected during transactions

We provide information collected from you to airlines, car rental agencies, hotels, travel agencies or other contracted third parties to facilitate the successful fulfillment of your travel arrangements or for the specific purpose for which you provided the information. As an added service, subject to your opting out as described below, your purchase behavior may also be analyzed to identify and present custom offers that may be of interest to you.

MileagePlus

Information collected from MileagePlus members is used to enroll you in MileagePlus and ensure that you receive applicable mileage credit for travel purchases for participating flights and other MileagePlus participating vendor (partner) activities. This information is also used to communicate with you on your MileagePlus account status and notify you of any special promotions for which you might be eligible. On occasion, we may provide customer name, email addresses, physical addresses, account and other information to carefully screened MileagePlus partners or other companies whose services or products may be of interest to you. (You may unsubscribe by opting out, as described below.) Sharing of customer lists may also provide you with the opportunity to earn bonus miles for non-flight activity. As indicated, we require strict contractual obligations from these third parties to ensure safeguards for the privacy and security of the information that are at least as restrictive as this Privacy Policy in handling your information.

Traveler profile information

We use traveler profile information to perform a number of functions including 1) pre-filling certain data fields to eliminate you from having to type the same information multiple times; 2) performing certain booking functions; 3) billing you for your reservation; 4) sending you offers that may be of value unless you opt out, as described below; and 5) notifying you of a flight change, reservation confirmation or a special fare offering.

Emails

We use email addresses to provide information or promotional opportunities that may be of interest to you from United or third parties and to deliver information relevant to our customers, such as fare specials, reservation confirmations, surveys, account information, and notification services, and for administrative reasons. As a MileagePlus member, a registered user of one of our websites, or a contest entrant, you occasionally will receive emails about fare sales, special offers, new services and other noteworthy news items. We hope you will find these updates interesting and informative. Of course, if you would rather not receive this information, you may opt out of receiving such emails as described below.

Online surveys and promotions

We value the opinions of our customers and want to improve your travel experience and our service offerings; therefore, from time to time, we will conduct research surveys. We may also contract with third parties to perform the research, but the use of the customer data by that third party is limited solely to that survey initiative and is protected by a confidentiality agreement.

Generally, unless otherwise stated in the promotion or survey, contact information collected for promotions is used to notify promotion winners, and survey information and results are used to develop improved promotions and other service enhancements.

Flight status alerts/wireless services

Our customers can register for flight status notifications and other wireless services by providing basic flight information and other relevant information. Wherever possible, information already provided will be used for the delivery of these services. Participation in flight status notifications and other wireless services is optional.

Cookies and other tracking technologies

United and its third-party service providers, including ad networks, use cookies, pixel tags (also known as Web beacons), ad tags and similar files and technical devices on our site (collectively "cookies") to collect information about your use of our site which includes, but is not limited to, the IP Address used to access this site; your browser type and operating system; Web pages you view; links you click; websites visited before and websites visited after; website browser history; and information about your interaction with our site, including information related to your searches, profile and travel destinations. We may combine this information with other information that we have about you.

Cookies help establish a user session and allow our server to correctly provide site users with the appropriate information, advertisements and services. We also use cookies to ensure that you obtain the information you request and to authenticate your authority to access the site. If you are a registered user on our site and you choose to have the site store your MileagePlus number, the cookie stored on your computer will contain your MileagePlus number. We also use cookies to track the usage of our websites in order to improve the site according to our customers' needs. United may enter into agreements with third-party companies to serve advertisements, including advertisements for non-United products and services that we think may be of interest to you, and information on our website and on third-party websites. Please see the following section titled "Targeted Advertising" for additional information. You can configure your browser to not accept cookies from us or from third-party companies, like the third-party ad servers. If you choose not to accept our cookies, however, and are a registered user, you will not have access to your personal information, such as your user profile, itineraries, award travel, upgrades and MileagePlus summary information, on this site. Although you cannot sign in to the site as a registered user if you disable our cookies, you can still purchase on the site by logging in as a guest. It is important to note that some website functionality may not work properly if your browser does not accept cookies.

Targeted advertising

We and our third-party service providers use the information that we collect about you online (including directly from you), through cookies, third party sites (e.g., engagement with social media where publicly available) and offline, including data combined or appended from various sources, to serve advertisements, including advertisements for non-United products and services that we think may be of interest to you, on our site and on third-party websites, as well as to track the success of our advertising campaigns.

In addition to the information collected through this site, we (and our third-party service providers) may track user activity through email or use of a mobile site. These cookies and other tracking technologies enable the third-party advertising technology to better understand onsite activity both individually and in the aggregate; to recognize a browser's cookie when a browser visits this site or other sites; and to learn which advertisements bring users to our website, third-party websites or otherwise take action. If you do not want information to be used to provide you with more relevant information, advertisements or services, you can change the settings on your Internet browser to reject cookies. This also may disable our Web beacons. Please consult your chosen Internet browser for instructions on how to change your cookie-handling settings.

Third-party ad network providers, advertisers, sponsors and/or traffic measurement services may use cookies, JavaScript, Web beacons (including clear GIFs), Flash LSOs and other technologies to measure the effectiveness of their ads and to personalize advertising content to you. These third-party cookies and other technologies are governed by each third party's specific privacy policy, and not by this Privacy Policy.

In addition, third-party ad networks may be members of either the Network Advertising Initiative ("NAI") or About Ads-Digital Advertising Alliance ("DAI"). If they are members and you do not want to receive targeted advertisements from these third-party ad networks, you may opt out. You can find information about member companies, the practices of such third-party ad networks and your choices regarding having information used by these companies, including how to opt out at http://www.networkadvertising.org/optout_nonppii.asp for NAI members and http://www.aboutads.info/choices/ for DAI members.

Opting out of one or more NAI or DAI members'- ad networks only means that those particular members no longer will deliver targeted content or ads to you. It does not mean you will no longer receive any targeted content or ads on our websites or other non-United websites. If your browser is configured to reject cookies when you visit one of the above referenced opt-out pages, and then you erase your cookies, use a different computer or change Web browsers, your NAI or DAI opt-out preference may no longer be active.

Third-Party Analytics

We also use automated devices and applications, such as Google Analytics, to evaluate use of our website and the services we provide. We use these tools to gather information about users to help us improve our services, performance and user experiences. These analytics providers may use cookies and other technologies to perform their services, and may combine the information that they collect about you on our websites with other information that they have collected. This Policy does not cover such third parties’ use of the data.

Domain names

Information regarding domain names is aggregated to measure the number of visits, average time spent on the site, pages viewed and similar site usage information in order to know how to improve the site's content.

Children

No information we collect from children known to be under the age of 13 is used for any marketing or promotional purposes whatsoever, by United, our affiliates, or our third-party sponsors. We use the information collected about children known to be under 13 to provide services only. We will give out personal information about children if required by law, for example, to comply with a court order or subpoena, or to protect the safety and security of visitors and our sites.

Law enforcement/legal processes/other uses

United also may disclose personal information: if required to do so by law, court order, subpoena or other legal process; as requested by a governmental or law enforcement authority; to protect the rights or property of United, its customers, its websites, or users; or when we believe in good faith that it is in the interests of aviation security or that disclosure is otherwise necessary or advisable.

How can you access your information?

If you are registered on one of our websites, you can create, view or update your traveler profile and MileagePlus account through the United family website sign-in. If you are not registered on one of our websites, you can review and request changes to your personally identifiable information collected by United by calling 1-800-421-4655.

How is the information collected online protected?

United maintains strict physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to protect personal information and regularly reviews its security standards and procedures to protect against unauthorized access to personal information. When you place orders to purchase services or access your MileagePlus account information, we use secure servers to protect your personal information. Secure Socket Layer (SSL) software encrypts the personal information that is transmitted between you and our websites.

Although United takes reasonable steps to safeguard and to prevent unauthorized access to your private information, it cannot be responsible for the acts of those who gain unauthorized access, and United makes no warranty, express, implied, or otherwise, that we will prevent unauthorized access to your private information.

How can you opt out?

If you are a MileagePlus member or a registered user of one of our websites and do not want United to use or share your personal information for the purpose of sending you marketing or promotion related direct mail or emails from United, you can opt out at any time by going to the United family website you are using and update your preferences accordingly. In addition, all marketing emails will also contain a message on how to opt out of that type of communication in the future. Regardless of your opt-out preferences, we reserve the right to send you emails or other electronic messages for administrative purposes.

Other sites

This Privacy Policy, to the extent it covers Internet use, covers only the United family websites and does not cover any other site, including those related to this site such as unitedvacations.com, unitedcargo.com or the non-U.S. United sites, nor does this policy apply to unitedcontinentalholdings.com. While we make every effort to protect your information on our websites, we do not control the policies of other sites (including those we may link to). We have no control over other sites' privacy policies or use of any personal information you or others may share with them. Please do not assume that our Privacy Policy covers those other sites.

Protect your personal information

In order to protect your privacy and United’s proprietary databases and systems, we recommend that you not share any of your personally identifiable information, such as MileagePlus number or password, with any third-party information aggregators that would allow them access to sensitive account information.

How can you contact us?

If you have comments or questions about this Privacy Policy, submit your inquiry to United Customer Service. Please reference this Privacy Policy in those communications.

Legal effect and changes to the Policy

As indicated, this Privacy Policy is not a contract nor does it otherwise create any legal rights or obligations. Rather, this Privacy Policy merely reflects guidelines setting forth United's intended business practices. However, by using this website, and/or by providing personal information to United online or offline, you consent to the collection and use of such information by United, its affiliates, partners, contractors and permitted agents as herein described and consistent with applicable laws. Also, United, in its discretion, may amend, interpret, modify, or withdraw any portion of this Privacy Policy and related business practices at any time by posting updated text on this site, and your continued use constitutes your consent to those changes. A version of this Privacy Policy has been effective since October 15, 2002, and was last updated on July 13, 2015.